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The case has been discussed to death, no pun intended. As the BBC puts it, we are a deeply divided nation. The highest ranks of government are pleading for something that due process is not willing to give.

It seems, according to the law, there is now little room for keeping the suffering woman named Terri Schiavo alive. The question being thrown about has been, "Who gets to be Terri's spokesperson?" It's an interesting question. It's like asking, "Who does Terri get to be a slave to?" on the one hand, or, "Who would Terri give her life to?" on the other hand.

To me, the deeper question is, How did we get here in the first place? Today, the nation declares, if bregrudgingly, it's acceptance of the precepts of Euthanasia. Today, many people weep for the nation, as it proclaims with one voice, that death is more desirable than suffering.

Update 3/30: some details that I've been collecting over the last week...The claim is that Terri is in …

Running along the lake this morning with Chris, I told him I felt like I had let down my fellow runners. The winter of '03-'04, I ran off and on throughout the entire season, enjoying the snow, wind, and cold, wearing whatever gear I needed to, or running as hard as I needed to to maintain a healthy body temperature. Chris and I were continually amused at the drastic decrease of runners over the winter, the following summer asking the masses the rhetorical question, "Where were you a few months ago? Where were you when it was about 70 degrees cooler, when we were getting an agility workout trekking through snow?" Well, this recent winter, I was one of those who disappeared with the arrival of the inclement weather. I think today kinda informally marks my return to the streets and the increased blood flow.

On a similar note, I found a "this is so me!" article. I love biking in the city. It's gotta be one of my favorite things to do here, even just …

Whenever someone famous gets in trouble, that is one of the first things the press focuses on. What do his friends do? Do they support him or do they tell reporters that, unfortunately, they had seen trouble coming for some time? One of the worst things a friend can say is what Peter said. We weren't friends, exactly. Acquaintances might be a better word. Actually, we just worked together. For the same company, I mean. Not together, just near each other. My desk was near his. I really don't know him at all.How do you portray your friends? Who gets to be your friend?

It's late, and I wasn't really planning on posting, but I just got back from my first time @ St. Mike's of Old Town, where I attended a great lecture immediately following their 7pm "contemporary" mass. I thought his name was "Fr. Ted", but it turns out his full name is "Tadeusz Pacholczyk", Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Apparently he meets regularly with Bush's bioethics people - he mentioned that Bush's point man in this area is a Jew! awesome! er, I mean, Jewish, not a Jew, because apparently using the former term is offensive. He also meets regularly with some of the big dudes in Rome. Anyway, here are some jewels I took away from his lecture:Embryonic stem cells do not heal, there are zero reported cases of healing. Because of their rapid rate of growth in embryos, they form tumors when used in animals, which ultimately kill the animal. Adult stem cells already have a multitude of success…

So this could be this lengthy post on my insane striving to be independent, simplistic, and non-materialistic, but instead it's just a little status alert about Google's popular blogging service, Blogger. As mentioned on this Known Issues page:Users are currently getting "Blog not found" errors when accessing comment pages. We are working on getting this resolved ASAP.Sorry if you've tried to comment sometime in the last week or so. I was wondering what happened to the hoardes of commentors that I usually have... ;-) Blogger is a pretty cool service, not as dependable as spinning your own service, but conversely, more dependable than spinning your own if you'd prefer not to expect to have a consistent income quite yet in your life...

Time for a little update. Three weekends ago, I rode with Theresa down to party with her family near Cincinatti. In the spirit of experiencing new things, I am very proud to add that to the list. Very fun! :) They all have very curious relationships with one another. (I mean, they made me very curious, not that they were curious about each other. They know each other entirely too well.) As so many people find nourishment in their families, at the end of the weekend it was apparent how very much she receives (and gives) from her own, in a pretty unique way. On the drive down, I actually got a bit of sleep, which I rarely get in cars. You should consider it a compliment if I can fall asleep in your presence. Not a sign that you're boring. :)

Two weekends ago, I rode with JoeJohn and Sean to go out to Crooked Lake for the weekend. Halfway there, I managed to single-handedly destroy JoeJohn's engine, without hitting a single th…

He who has come to mendwells where we cannot tell nor sight reveal him,until the hour has struckwhen the small heart does break with hunger for him;those who do merit least,those whom no tongue does praise the first to know him,and on the face of earththe poorest village streetblossoming for him.Its Secret Time

Out of a difficult and troubled seasonthe timely harvest thrusts amid the stones;the dry mind that would claim a thousand reasonsmelts beneath the Lord's appointed rain.

The furred magnolia buds we bring to warmthhere in the heated room soon bloom and sicken;the tree without keeps its own secret time.

Powerless are we to move God with our clamor,to seize the least fringe of his mystery;but we must wait until the gift is givenand poor, walk faithfully the lanes of heaven.To Jesus, in the Spring

Oh, break the chrysalis of doubt,plow up the clods of thick despair,and split the buds of ignorance,and cleanse the winter-heavy air!

Yesterday I came across a very cool free resource... so you know how designers can find online libraries of fonts as well as high quality, high resolution graphics and photographs? These are usually pay sites. Well check out stock.xchng. Wowsers. Don't be scared off by the required registration... it's all free! Looks like I won't be needing to take a digital camera to any of the tourist traps that I plan on visiting in my lifetime, I can just mooch better pics of said locations from this site! Makes for excellent browsing for awesome desktop background images. It's like Webshots on steroids. It's like discovering Google Maps after having just used MapQuest. (ps- Google Local now offers that map functionality fully integrated..)

Stumbling across that site set my mind rolling on free stuff. I just realized how my professional focus on opensourcesoftware has been an extension of an interest in free stuff that I had back in high school. (for the brave, che…